While Donald Hornes contributions as a writer and public intellectual are widely known, his contribution to our understanding of the importance of culture in the lives of ordinary people is less so. He was someone who was moved by symbolism and ideas. He publicly championed the importance of cultural life  something no other chairman of the Australia Council, with the possible exception of Nugget Combes, has attempted. Artlink asked Deborah Mills to unpack the ways in which Horne operated in this arena.